Remember Y2K? I recently explained it to a group of students who were only one or two years old when that was all going down, and gee it sounds crazy. But do you remember, did you stock up on supplies or avoid public spaces? Me? I didn’t believe things were going to go nuts, but just in case, I went to Edinburgh, Scotland, and had an awesome party.

This collection of short stories starts with a man who totally believes in Y2K and who is desperate to get his wife and son away, regardless of what it costs his person morals and upstanding. From here, we have all kinds of stories, but with seemingly one theme – what would people do when pushed to the extreme? There are all kinds of horrible worlds depicted: worlds where it doesn’t stop raining, or the country and the city are two separate worlds kept apart by armed guards, barbed wire fences and passes, or there are infected people, or all kinds of things. And then there are the normal people who now inhabit these worlds, who are just trying to get by and stay alive.

I loved it, though reading the whole thing it one sitting was almost too much. I’m glad we live in a far nicer world that this, and it made me wonder what would I be prepared to do to stay alive. Really… I always figure I am such a wuss that I would just roll over and die, but I’ve never been in a position where it is life or death. Hope I neer am.